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James Hastings, Head of Construction Futures at Experian, began by explaining that in the aftermath of the EU referendum, growth forecasts took a big negative hit. Though there has been something of a bounce-back – to 1.3% as of January 2017 – most economic analysts are in agreement that Brexit will have a negative impact in the short term.

In terms of construction, he identified the following vulnerabilities, divided into positive, neutral and negative.

Christopher Tilley, Illegal Working Threat Lead – Deputy Director at the Home Office, gave a briefing on the importance of protecting businesses and supply chains from illegal working.

He started by explaining that access to the labour market is a key pull factor for illegal migration, and emphasised that the exploitation of illegal workers allows unscrupulous employers to undercut competition.

He highlighted the Immigration Act 2016, which included the new offence of illegal working, and also made it possible to prosecute rogue landlords and agents who repeatedly fail to carry out right to rent checks.

The Home Office branch of Immigration Enforcement have the power to close sites for 48 hours and issue compliance orders for up to 12 months. They can also issue civil penalties of up to £20,000 per illegal worker.

A plan to deliver the additional 200,000 homes Crossrail 2 will support.

The capital costs are now forecast at £31.2 billion, using 2014 prices and including a 66% ‘optimism bias’, which Neather claimed was tougher than that applied to HS2. The biggest cost is the stations (£9bn) and on-network works (£5.5bn).